


Chicken Soup

by fishfingersandjellybabies



Series: Dad!Jason AU [19]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 23:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6214507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishfingersandjellybabies/pseuds/fishfingersandjellybabies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hope was not something she had, right now, in the dark corner of her room. But maybe hope wasn’t a thing at all. Maybe hope was actually just a little boy holding a stuffed tiger, and smiling at her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chicken Soup

**Author's Note:**

> Damian’s four, obviously, and this is between Broken & Shattered and Remembrance & Recovery.

She heard the doorbell clang. Heard Alfred go to answer it. Heard the voices, though soft, of Dick and Jason, waft up the hallway and into her room.

She didn’t move to go greet them.

Instead, she pressed her back further into the corner, pushed so hard it hurt her shoulder blades. Curled her knees tighter to her chest, and buried her face in the arms she’d crossed there.

She knew Dick and his family were here to see her. Or at least Dick was. But still. She hoped they didn’t come upstairs. Hope they didn’t come in her room, and find her sitting on the floor, hiding in the shadows of the late afternoon.

She didn’t want to be seen. Didn’t want to be comforted. Because nothing – _nothing_ – would make this better. Not _ever_.

But regardless of her hopes, it was a few minutes later that she heard the jiggle of the doorknob, and the barely-there creak of the door opening.

She tightened her shoulders as she raised her head. Already preparing a statement, already planning on telling Dick thanks, but no thanks. _Not right now, big brother, I don’t think I want to talk._

So it came as a surprise, that when she looked up, it wasn’t an acrobat standing there.

It was a four-year-old.

A four-year-old who had a stuffed tiger almost the size of him clutched under his arm. A four-year-old who was looking more and more like his biological parents every day. A four-year-old who was too smart, too perceptive, for his own good, and was staring at her with curious, wide eyes.

A four-year-old who had already gone through enough recently, who had lost and only _just_ regained his Didi.

But unlike Dick and the Court of Owls, Stephanie Brown would not be coming back.

Cassandra felt her gasping breath hitch as she stared up at him, but Damian paid it no mind. Just hiked the tiger further up his side and gave a quick wave with his free hand.

“Hi.”

If he expected any sort of answer, he didn’t get it. It didn’t seem to bother him, though, as he immediately trudged forward, walking to her side and sliding down the wall next to her.

She watched him the whole way. Tears still streaming down her face as he dropped to his butt, made sure his shoulder was touching her arm, situated the tiger on his other side, then looked up at her. He blinked and smiled, then looked back out into the room.

And that was it.

He didn’t offer any words. Didn’t try to hug or console. He just sat with her, in silence, bouncing his tiny sneakered feet against each other out in front of them.

Cassandra felt her tears start to fall faster.

Because no four-year-old should be so wise. No four-year-old should be so…in _tune_ with the people around them to know exactly what they want, even if they don’t say, and _give_ it to them.

She didn’t want to talk, so he didn’t make her. She didn’t want consoled, so he didn’t try.

She didn’t _really_ want to be alone, so he didn’t let her be.

She ducked her face back into her arms, let her gasps transform into loud sobs. She felt Damian lean his head against her shoulder, and keep up the rubbery beat of his toes bouncing off of each other.

Cassandra didn’t know how long they sat like that. It had to have been a while, or maybe not. Who knew. All she knew was as her sobs began to die down from exhaustion, she felt five little chubby fingers wrap around hers.

“…Stephie wouldn’t want you to be sad.” Damian whispered. Cassandra found herself shaking her head in agreement. “…I’m gonna miss her too.”

Cassandra raised her head, looked down at the boy with the too open face. He smiled at her again, and Cassandra couldn’t help but wonder where that kindness came from. Was it genetic, from Bruce? Or was it from Dick’s heart? Learned from Jason’s love?

Or had it been taught by Steph, who labeled herself as Damian’s ‘super awesome, number one, all-time _favorite_ babysitter’?

At this point she didn’t care. She sniffed, squeezed his fingers and shifted to the side, leaning her head on his. He curled tighter into her arm, near nuzzled it, and sighed. Long, deep, _sad_.

“She loved you.” Cassandra whispered.

“She loved you more.” Damian countered. “She _told_ me so.”

That was a lie, and it made Cassandra laugh.

“Here,” Damian said abruptly, pulling away. Cassandra sat up, already lamenting the loss of his warmth, and watched as he spun around, grabbed the tiger, and swung it back, practically shoving it into her face. “For you.”

“But Damian,” Cass tried to argue, even as she slowly reached for it. “This is your-”

“Stephie gave it to me. For my third birthday.” Damian explained, impatiently shoving the tiger into Cass’s hands. “And I know, okay. I _know_ she’d want me to give it to you.”

Cass tenderly took it. Held it on top of her knees, and stared into the tiger’s blank face.

“When you’re sad, and you’re missing Stephie, find Oscar and give him a big hug.” Damian tried, pulling at one of Oscar’s ears. “That’s what I did when Didi was gone, and Baba was sad. I would find Leo-nard the leo-pard – that kitty Didi got me when he went on that long Nightwing trip to Yurpe? – and I would hug him. I’d hug him all night long. I even took him to school a few times.”

“Did that…help?”

“Well…” Damian trailed off, twisted his lips to the side. “Sometimes. Not always. But!” He scrambled up to his knees, latched both his hands excitedly onto Cass’s arm. “But, when I missed Didi, I’d hug Leo-nard, and look what happened!”

Cass stared at him.

He grinned. “Didi came back!”

“…Oh.” Cassandra whispered sadly, looking back down at the tiger.

She felt Damian’s energy dissipate instantly. “And…and I know what happened to Didi and what happened to Stephie are different.” He admitted. “I know Didi was just gone, and Stephie is dead.”

Cass couldn’t stop her flinch.

“But, sometimes? When I’m s’pposed to be sleeping?” Damian tried, leaning into her line of sight. “I hear Didi and Baba talking. Sometimes, I’ll hear Baba wake up from a nightmare, and Didi’s comforting him. And they say it all the time, I hear them talk about it.”

“About…?”

“How Baba was dead.” Damian said simply. Cassandra couldn’t hide her surprise. “They say it all the time, about how he was dead and now he’s not.”

Cassandra couldn’t help but gape. Did Dick and Jason, or _anyone_ , know that Damian knew…?

Regardless, the child wasn’t exactly _wrong_.

“So who knows?” Damian smiled again. Hesitant, but encouraging. “If Baba came back and had me, maybe Stephie can come back too.” Suddenly, he gasped. “Maybe Stephie will come back with a baby too! Then you and Stephie can be mommas together!”

And…Cass couldn’t deny it. Damian’s hope was infectious. She was still heartbroken, still would be for ages. Because Jason was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, they all knew that. The odds of Stephanie coming back like he did were…slim to none.

But still.

She couldn’t not smile around this child. She couldn’t not agree with his logic, either.

 _Where were we before this child came into our lives?_ She wondered, as she nodded at Damian’s statement. _Where would we be now without him?_

Damian opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say next was cut off by a large, long yawn. Cassandra smiled, leaned her chin on the tiger’s head. “Nap time?”

Damian nodded before the yawn was even complete. “Will you take a nap with me, Cassie?”

Cassandra let her smile widen. “Of course.”

Damian frowned, though. Looked around. “Can we…not sleep on the floor?”

Cassandra laughed, as she lowered her legs and moved to stand. “Of course.”

~~

It was an hour later that Dick and Jason emerged from the Batcave, and came wandering the halls in search of their charge. Alfred claimed he was in the sitting room coloring, but when they went to look, they found the book unopened and the crayons untouched.

They weren’t worried, not really. Knew he was still in the house. Cranky, and bored, probably, but still in the house, somewhere.

After searching the whole ground floor, Alfred suggested they go ask Cassandra, who, due to the circumstances of the day, had opted not to leave her room. So they set off to do so, walking slowly up the stairs to talk about strategy. Do they talk about Steph with her? Do they just ask her about general things? Do they let her control the conversation? Do they say anything at all?

They expected to find her sad, grieving. A mess. A wreck, like Jason was when Dick was gone. Steph was her best friend after all, even Jason knew that. What they didn’t expect to find was…well, what they found.

Cass was lying on her bed. On her back, propped up on her pillows. She had her arm around a stuffed tiger, holding it tight to her side, and there were dried tear tracks still visible along her cheeks. Damian was sprawled across her chest, face burrowed against her neck, arms flopped out to the side.

Both were fast asleep.

Dick and Jason stared for a few seconds, before Jason glanced down at his watch.

“Well,” He hummed. “It _is_ naptime.”

Dick just hummed a sigh, let a sad smile filter onto his face as he walked into the room. There was a blanket folded up at the end of the bed, and he tugged it off, letting it flop open in his hands. Carefully, he perched on the side of the bed, dragged the blanket up his sister’s body, laid it down across the back of Damian’s neck. Smoothed it across his shoulders and tucked it into Cass’s sides.

“Don’t worry too much, Dick,” Jason whispered, even as Dick leaned up, pressed a kiss to Cassandra’s forehead. “Damian’s got her.”

“Yeah.” Dick smiled, running a hand over Damian’s hair before retreating and rejoining Jason at the door. As soon as he was across the threshold, he turned, watched his sister and his baby as Jason grabbed the doorknob, and pulled the door to a crack. “I think he does.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Other things for Nevolition’s Dad!Jason AU](http://fishfingersandjellybabies.tumblr.com/tagged/dad%21jason+au)   
> 


End file.
